KIIT Student Snehadeep Kumar Becomes Youngest Participant at UK National Astronomy Meeting

Bhubaneswar: Snehadeep Kumar, a 2nd year Electronics and Electrical student of KIIT-DU, remained the cynosure of all eyes at the prestigious National Astronomy Meeting (NAM) 2023 held in the UK last week. Snehadeep garnered admiration as he became not only the youngest to present a poster at the meeting but also the only undergraduate student at the event, surprising the President of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) Dr Mike Edmunds and several other scientists. The meeting was held at Cardiff University, Wales, UK from July 3 to 7. KIIT, as a matter of fact, became the only institute in the world to produce an undergraduate delegate in NAM history, as said by the RAS Council Members.Representing KIIT-DU, Snehadeep presented a poster on “Saha’s theory of thermal ionization in star formation”. KIIT became the only Indian university ever to present a talk or a poster at NAM, where only 176 research posters from around the world were selected. Such an opportunity is usually given to post-doctorate researchers and scientific professionals. The National Astronomy Meeting is the Royal Astronomical Society’s annual scientific conference of astronomers and functions as the primary annual meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society. It is one of the biggest astronomical conferences in the world, with about 600 delegates attending each year.Apart from Dr Edmunds, Snehadeep had an opportunity to meet and interact with some of the brightest minds in astrophysics such as Nobel laureate Dr James Peebles and Dr John Peacock. Snehadeep expressed his deepest gratitude to KIIT for supporting him throughout the journey that could only have remained a dream without the University’s support. Congratulating Snehadeep, Dr. Achyuta Samanta, Founder, KIIT & KISS wished his bright future.

 Earlier, he participated in various conferences across the globe, such as the International Astronomical Congress 2023 in Baku, Azerbaijan. He will also participate in the NAM 2024 which will be held at Hull, England next year.